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CONWAY STEWART LEVERS


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#1 johnmc2

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Posted 08 February 2014 - 06:18 AM

I had a rather traumatic experience today when I snapped the end off my favourite #55's lever, and I don't want to repeat this with any other of my CS pens.  I have noticed the ones with pressure bars require a fair amount of torque to operate and I wonder if I'm doing something wrong when I restore them.  

Here's my usual process:

  • remove the pressure bars using tweezers, with the lever at 30 degrees to the horizontal
  • clean up the bars, including fine-sanding the grooves where the little tongues on the lever slide along
  • reinstall the pressure bar, with the lever at 30 degrees or so, with the short end of the bar pointing towards the section end (some have one tab, others two) and positioning it as far back as it will go i.e. so the end of the lever is resting against the front tab, if there is one.  
  • check clearances so the proximal end of the bar is well clear of where the section nipple will end up
  • insert section without twisting

I have been using latex sacs from fountainpensacs.com, they apparently get them from the pen sac company.  I use a #17 in the fatter pens such as CS58 and #16 sacs in the slimmer ones such as CS388.  

I use talc liberally in the reassembly process.  I always ensure the feed does not protrude from the nipple.  

 

Has anyone any further suggestions, or can point out something I am doing wrong?



#2 AndyR

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Posted 08 February 2014 - 09:49 AM

I can't see anything obviously wrong with your procedure, though maybe others who repair many more pens than I do might have an input.

 

However, in my experience, tight CS levers are mostly due to the locking mechanism employed on the later pens that you mention. If you look at the lever cutout on the barrel, there should be a little rolled gold piece crimped into the channel cut in the barrel where the neck of the lever and the paddle sit with the lever down. If you look closely at the shape of the lever end beneath the paddle, you will see the profile is not cut off completely square, it is cut at a very slight angle, and when the lever is closed, this has to bump over the rolled gold part on the barrel, so the lever is gently locked in place in the barrel when it is down. The purpose of the rolled gold piece is to prevent the lever wearing away the soft barrel material. Unfortunately, it takes very little mis-alignment for the 'gentle' locking to become rather fiercer, and, as you have found to your cost, the point where the paddle joins the arm of the lever is vulnerable, so the force required to initially lift the lever is what causes it to bend or eventually break off. The lock is required with the floating pressure bar because otherwise there would be virtually no backward force to keep the lever in the closed position as there would be with a J bar, for instance.

 

I'm not sure what the repairer's 'best' fix would be for this, but I would recommend NOT removing the rolled gold piece if it seems to be firmly fixed, I have found it virtually impossible to replace properly. Maybe removing the lever, cleaning out the channel that the pivot ring sits in, then replacing the lever using a new ring might help. Or the crude fix is probably to take a needle file to reduce the angle on the lever so that it requires less force to bump over the part on the barrel.....

 

Andy


Edited by AndyR, 08 February 2014 - 09:51 AM.


#3 Peterg

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Posted 08 February 2014 - 10:39 AM

Plus that lever was a particularly awful piece of engineering putting all the lifting pressure through a stress point. You never know whether you are pressing against a difficult lock or a rock solid sac. I suspect most of the broken levers are caused by new purchasers of old pens determinedly trying to lift the lever against all odds.



#4 Deb

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Posted 08 February 2014 - 11:24 AM

I concur with all that has been said above.  As PeterG says, this is a design fault and we have to live with it as best we can. I have a beautiful green-hatched Conway Stewart 28 with a vicious lock.  Trying to lift the lever with a finger-nail in the usual way is impossible and almost certain to leave one with a broken lever.  I have to slide a thin blade behind the lever to release it.  Obviously, I can't sell it in this condition.  Having tried everything else I can think of, reduction of the gripping part with a file is all that I can do.



#5 johnmc2

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Posted 08 February 2014 - 06:12 PM

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful replies,
Andy, I had never made the connection between the floating bar and the need for a lock: explains why the CS15 with a J-bar doesn't have the gold clip in the lever slot.  

Peter, I agree about the likely cause of most breakages.  I recently acquired an otherwise faultless black CS58 and I am convinced the lever paddle had just been broken off exactly as you describe, at least the seller was upfront about it and I got a good deal.  
Deb, I also have a green hatched CS28, and one in red herringbone.  I don't know if it is a matter of proportion or the plastics used, but I think they are amongst the most beautiful models.  

 

Regards

John






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